Difference between Models and Theories

• A scientific model is not quite the same as a

scientific theory.
• A model is more limited: it is usually an attempt
to identify the crucial parts of a communication
process or phenomena.
• Models are structured to describe a
communication process or problem because the
communication process may be very
complicated, so we are in dire need of models
to describe them, break it down into its main
components to help our understanding of it.
• Theories are structured to explain them.
 What is meant by Model?
 Definition
 Early communication theory took the
form of models.
 It is a simplified, idealized and abstract
representation of complex
interrelationships among elements in the
communication process.
 What is meant by Model?
 The Advantages of Models:
 Models of communication are useful in
identifying:
1. the basic components of the communication
process
2. and how they are related.
3. visually understand a complex process.
4. a model aids in in generating questions for
richer forms of theory.
 What is meant by Model?
 Models Defects:
 Communication models are oversimplified.
The act of abstracting eliminates certain
details to focus on essential factors.
 Models are very limited and thus are best
thought of as only a most rudimentary form
of theory.
 What is meant by Model?
 Evolution of models

Models of Models of Models of

communication as Communication as communication
an action/ an interaction/ as transaction/
linear models circular models nonlinear models
 What is meant by Model?
 Evolution of models
Models of communication as an
action/linear models:
1. The communication process is depicted
as a line.
2. A sender(or a source or a speaker)
transmitting a message through
some channel to a receiver—still a line
drawn from left to right.
Examples:
Laswell’s model
Shannon & Weaver’s
mathematical model
Models of Communication as an
interaction/circular models:
1. Messages were still depicted as traveling along a
line, the line was circular, beginning with the
first interpreter as an encoder, traveling to the
second interpreter as a decoder, and then
returning from the second interpreter as an
encoder back to the original interpreter as a
decoder.
2- They are the first to depict communication
process as interactive.
Examples:
Wilbur Schrram’s model
 What is meant by Model?
 Evolution of models
Models of communication as transaction/
nonlinear models
• Context.
• In the transactional model, people build shared
meaning.
• Furthermore, what people say during a transaction is
greatly influenced by their past experience.
• Simultaneity.
 Models of communication as an action/linear
Harold Laswell's Model: models

 HaroldLaswell (1948) produced a model, this model is

phrased as a question:
Who says what in which channel to whom
with what effect ?
 Laswell's model could be applied to all manner of
other forms of communication, from telephone calls to
social networking site conversations and from
magazine reading to university lectures.
 Laswell's model allows for many general applications in
mass communication.
The communication
Harold process
Lasswell’s Model:
 Shannon and Weaver’s Model/ The Models of
communication as
mathematical theory of communication an action/linear
(1949): models

 Shannon and Weaver's mathematical model was developed to

help telephone engineers design efficient ways to transmit
electrical signals from place to place, in Bell telephone company.
 In this model, an information source sends a message encoded
into an electrical signal by a transmitter (such as his or her
telephone) decoded back into its original form by a receiver (such
as another person's telephone) and received be a recipient at its
destination.
 The model also incorporates noise which refers to interference
that might distort the message. The more the noise in a channel,
the greater the need for redundancy.
 Shannon and Weaver’s Model/ The Models of
communication as
mathematical theory of communication an action/linear
(1949): models

Information Transmitter Receiver

Source Destination

Message Signal Received

Signal Message

Noise Source
 3- Schramm Model of Communication Models of Communication as an
interaction/circular models

 In 1954, Wilbur Schramm created one of the first models of face-

to-face human communication.
 Rather than a sender and a receiver, Schramm's model
depicted interpreters who were
simultaneously encoders and decoders.
 Though messages were still depicted as traveling along a line, the
line was circular, beginning with the first interpreter as an
encoder, traveling to the second interpreter as a decoder, and
then returning from the second interpreter as an encoder back to
the original interpreter as a decoder.
 In the interactional model, meaning is achieved through the
feedback of a sender and a receiver, and the continuous loop of
shared information.
 Models of
Communication as
an
interaction/circular
 3- Schramm Model of Communication models


 What is meant by Model? Models of communication as
transaction/ nonlinear models

 The most famous of these models was developed by Dean

Barnlund in 1970.
 Barnlund used a complex graphic representation of spirals and
curved arrows to represent the continuous, unrepeatable,
irreversible nature of communication.
 Along with interactants, decoding,
encoding, and messages, Barnlund's model included a set of
valanced cues: public cues (in the environment), private cues (in
or on the persons), and deliberate behavioral cues (nonverbal
and verbal). All these components were depicted as interrelated
and constantly evolving.
What is meant by Model? Models of
communication as
 DeanBarnlund’ Model of transaction/ nonlinear

communication models
 Models of communication as transaction/ nonlinear models

 Dean Barnlund’ Model of

communication
 For instance, at a college fair, it is likely that a
college student will have a great deal to say to a
high school senior because of the college
student’s experiences in class and around campus.
 A college senior will, no doubt, have a different
view of college than, say, a college sophomore,
due in large part to his or her past college
experiences.